


Under The Milk Dish

by GodalinvaFleur



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Kid Fic, M/M, Mpreg, Multi, Not Epilogue Compliant, Parenthood, Post Mpreg, Sibling Bonding, no betas we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-18 08:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21591229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GodalinvaFleur/pseuds/GodalinvaFleur
Summary: “Do you want children?”Draco posed the question like the response was going to be explosive, shocked, or incredulous. His eyes had averted from Harry’s long before they both got home that evening, and even for such a momentous inquiry, Draco couldn’t gather the steel to see the expression on his husband’s face.orDraco remembers why he married Harry Potter in the first place.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56





	1. Kids? Yes Or No?

“Do you want children?”

Draco posed the question like the response was going to be explosive, shocked, or incredulous. His eyes had averted from Harry’s long before they both got home that evening, and even for such a momentous inquiry, Draco couldn’t gather the steel to see the expression on his husband’s face. 

Harry put down a few magical creature figurines he’d been attempting to bring to life, a surprise birthday present every Hogwarts student of Defense Against The Dark Arts had come to expect. When he realized what Draco had asked, Harry’s gaze raked over his tense shoulders and Draco’s means of sitting that made him seem small, so small. He still hadn’t made eye contact. 

The couch gave an exhausted sigh as Harry rose from his seat and strode to stand in front of the blonde, who was laid vertical on their antique chaise and decidedly not speaking anymore. 

Harry crouched and rose a hand to run through Draco’s long unbraided hair, but the other flinched.

A few long moments passed.

“Of course- yeah, of course. I’ve always wanted a family.” Harry frowned. “Any particular reason you’re asking now?”

Draco slowly brought himself to a full sitting position before standing up and wandering the room to fixate his mind on something else, fluttering the living room’s billowing curtains closed, pondering on the strange new scent of age settling upon Grimmauld Place, fixing back sofa cushions and frowning to himself. “I love Teddy. Do you understand that, Harry? I would do anything for him.”

“I know. So would I.” A questioning sound attached itself to the end of Harry’s statement.

“And I want to take care of him, for as long as he needs us-” He stopped fiddling to cross his arms over himself, squeezing himself tight. “But when I ask if you want children, I don’t want it to seem like Teddy isn’t enough- because he is. He’s more than enough. And I don’t want you to doubt that. Because I love him very, very much.” 

Harry crossed the room from around the couch and stood solidly before Draco. With one hand, Harry brought the other’s chin up to look at him, seeing trepidation, shame, and the smallest bought of fear in his eyes. 

“I understand… I perfectly understand.” Draco’s expression relaxed like a rose blooming, mouth smoothing out and eyes widening a fraction at what Harry continued on to say. “I want that with you, as many times as you want. As many times as I can have it.” Then, a smile was breaking out on the brunette’s face, “But you know, we do have to prepare for something like this.”

Draco grasped the back of his husband’s head, dragging his fingers through tangled locks to bring the other’s head down, and kissed him until they had to stop for breath.


	2. Please Read The Fine Print

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chances of such a magically benefited child descending from one or two Muggleborn parents is nearly impossible, at only 3.7% percent vs. a ‘pureblood’ child’s 27.9%...
> 
> (See “Consequences of Inheriting Congenital Magical Abilities” on page 1009.)”  
> [The above mentioned page displays signs of having been torn out]
> 
> Excerpt from On The Physiological Phenomenons of Magical Child Conception

_ “...When the two parents [of powerful magical ability] attempt to conceive a biological child through artificial, magical means (See Page 112.), the child chances the benefit of receiving at least one or more creature inheritances or congenital magical abilities such as Metamorphmagusism, Magical Perception, Parselmouthism, or most rarely, Veri Oculi. However, to acquire at birth such abilities, the ability needs to have been present as a dominant, activated genetic trait in at least one individual along either parents’ ancestry. _

_ Within ‘pureblood’ families, for various sociological reasons such as inbreeding, seeking magical creatures as sexual and or matrimonial partners for the sake of novelty or earning a bloodline with ‘advanced magic’, ‘pureblood’ families are the only wizard demographics with a slightly higher chance of conceiving a child through magical means with one or more of the aforementioned abilities.  _

_ The chances of such a magically benefited child descending from one or two Muggleborn parents is nearly impossible, at only 3.7% percent vs. a ‘pureblood’ child’s 27.9%... _

_ (See “Consequences of Inheriting Congenital Magical Abilities” on page 1009.)” _

_ [The above mentioned page displays signs of having been torn out] _

Excerpt from  **_On The Physiological Phenomenons of Magical Child Conception_ ** __

* * *

After 7 months of the initial excitement wearing off, a very polarized response from the press, lower backaches, mildly swollen feet, and cravings from his husband that often left Harry Potter standing in very strange food aisles at his local Tesco’s, the Potter Family’s first pregnancy scare came about them only gradually.

The baby hadn’t moved in 3 weeks.

At first, this was not something of immediate concern. The firstborn child of Harry and Draco Potter was proving to be a very lax baby. The baby only seemed to move upon provocation from accidently bumping into objects or Harry wanting to feel a foot or a hand from inside Draco’s stomach while they cuddled and whatnot. 

By the second week, Draco was actively seeking reassurance that the baby was actually well and healthy. His absent rubbings of his stomach became more frequent and intentional. Instead of Harry having to ask, Draco was pulling his husbands hand to sit on his stomach, hoping for a kick.

By the third week Harry become insistent upon meeting with Pansy, their family doctor and friend, for a checkup. The only thing comforting Draco was the knowledge that he was simply unable to miscarriage past 20 weeks. And (Draco refused to not entertain every solemn possibility), looking into stillbirth, Draco was giving no signs of that either. 

On a Tuesday, mid-December, Draco fainted halfway through making a cup of tea.

* * *

Pansy fixated a look upon the monitor and swiped a lock of hair behind her ear, leaned back in her chair, frowned, and then looked directly at Draco.

“Good or Bad news, Dray?” she asked simply. 

The fact that there was any good news to be had made 10 weights drop from Draco’s shoulders. Opposingly, Harry could barely contain his panic,  _ What bad news?!, _ and was inwardly critiquing the woman’s bedside manner.

“Good, if you will.” Draco said.

“The baby is absolutely fine, physically at least.”

Harry’s eyes snapped to the monitor at Draco’s bedside. “And not physically?”

“It would appear the baby’s MS, magical signature, has changed. While most baby’s take on fifty-fifty of their parents, like this one had before, the baby mostly just resembles a specific fraction of Draco’s, hardly any of yours Potter.”

Not sure what to make of that, being that he wasn’t in some ridiculous situation of the child not being his, Harry opened his mouth to ask what this meant before Draco interrupted.

“Should I look into my own magical signature then? My parents? Perhaps I should ask Mother about it.” He put a hand to his belly and straightened up on the bed. Harry motioned to help him, putting a comforting hand at Draco’s back.

“That would be our best bet to find out what happened... To remind you, the baby’s physically perfectly fine… the worst we could be dealing with is the child coming out as a squib.”

Thirty minutes later, with Teddy being held firmly in his lap with one hand and a duck-sauce covered biscuit in the other, Draco sent a Swan Patronus to his mother to inquire about when would be a good time to meet and have a proper brunch.

* * *

“Unc’arry, no!”

“Uncle Harry, yes.”

“No!”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Please?”

Teddy flailed his arms out of his clothing and elongated his nose so the red Christmas sweater could not be slipped back over his head. His room was already a mess, various past clothing failures for the day already strewn about on the floor, and even though Harry was used to this by now, dressing Teddy Lupin never seemed to get any easier.

Draco slowly made his way up the grand staircase of Grimmauld Place to investigate all the noise. He stood in the doorway for a moment, watching Teddy hop off the bed and dive into a pile of rejected clothing.

Draco tried the only tactic that seemed to work. “Teddy, if you wear your Grandmother’s  _ lovely  _ handwoven Christmas sweater, I’ll let you wear whatever pretty bow you want.” Teddy peaked out from underneath a mound of ratty jeans. “Perhaps, I’ll even take you to the store with me to buy more.” 

Nobody moved for a few moments, until Teddy barreled out of his hiding place and snatched the offending jumper out of Harry’s hands and put it on himself.

Stepping into the messy space, Draco pushed back long Teddy’s purple bangs and placed a kiss on his forehead. “Thank you, Teddy.”

Harry came up behind Draco, wrapped both arms around his waist, and planted a faint kiss on his neck as he yawned, “Thank god, I thought Teddy was going to kill me.”

“He just might one day”, Draco turned in his arms, “If you don’t learn that Teddy has far greater taste in fashion than you do. Look, he’s even changed today’s hair color to quiet that monstrosity the Weasley’s call sweaters..”

Harry cracked a smile and blew a raspberry into Draco’s neck. Draco moved in for a kiss then bit his ear as the doorbell rang. The temporary bubble of comfort was broken.

“They’re early,” Harry muttered under his breath.

After telling Teddy to stay in his room and helping Draco down the staircase, Harry resolutely opened the front door to greet not Narcissa Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, but Hermoine Granger.

Closing the door behind her, Harry’s expression turned quizzical, but he didn’t voice his questions until Hermoine was sitting on the sofa and Draco had offered her a cuppa. 

“I’m sure you have many questions as to why I came here  _ before _ the party but.. Ron mentioned that you’d told him Draco was having some very odd problems with the baby.” Draco gave Harry a dirty look. Hermoine placed a thick tome on the sitting table between them, ignoring this.

“That’s lovely Granger, but so far we haven’t had any proper discussions with my Mother or Pansy about what the problem may be so I’m not entirely sure what you could’ve possibly researched to find…” Draco drifted off when he took a glance at the bulking piece of literature in front of him and scanned the title. “ _ Phenomenons _ ?”

Harry took the book into his hands and read over the first few pages, wondering how Hermoine had ever known to look for it. Harry had barely told Ron much about their situation, just a bit about an apparent change in Magical Signature. The book seemed overly specific, if not extremely expensive, to suddenly find.

“I had to dig quite deep to find this but I’m sure that it’ll help you somehow, Draco.” she smiled.

Harry frowned at its sheer size. Draco took it from him and read the bibliography and Table of Contents. “I don’t suppose I doubt you on the matter of books, Granger.” He leafed to a few more pages as he said this, more to himself.

* * *

“Right then, lets begin.” 

Sitting in the parlor, the scent of incense made itself known when Pansy lit one in every corner of the room. The billowing, previously untouched, curtains along every window of Grimmauld Place’s parlour was slid shut, encasing the room in a cloistering darkness. Pansy muttered a spell and spilled two minute vials of blood, one Draco’s, one Narcissa’s, into the center of an antique Black Family midwifery table. The blood was settling along the corrugated ridges, when it suddenly burst into dancing electric blue flames. 

While everyone else in the room jumped back, Pansy leaned closer and brought her nose to whatever was left on the table.

Pansy’s face was slowly morphing through realization, curiosity, then annoyance. “...Hermoine...think of something even I… absolutely ridiculous.”

Harry held Draco’s hand close to his own and straightened in his seat. “What is it, Pansy?”

“Well,” Pansy silently vanished away the charred mess. “Hermoine was correct about this being conception related. What with you being pureblood… and both of you…being you- I should’ve considered this, despite the impossibility.” she sighed, reaching for the wand at her hip and motioned for Draco to sit next to her.

He hurried to her side and ungracefully fell upon the couch, propping himself on the arm.

“You gonna’ tell us what’s wrong?” Harry tried to hold back his annoyance and failed.

Pansy massaged Draco’s stomach and produced a string of light from the tip of her wand to lay across his stomach. “The procedure I just did is meant to probe whether or not the baby has congenital magic abilities, just as hopefully  _ both  _ of you read about in that absurdly helpful book Hermoine gave you?”

Harry didn’t respond for a few seconds before joining Draco on his other side.

“And? Does the baby seem to have one?”

“The baby doesn’t have any creature inheritances, but it appears to have at least two congenital abilities, coming from primarily the Black side- which is incredible, even for the both of you.”


	3. A Baby!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Black Family was notorious for inbreeding, nearly as bad as the Zabinis, as both families remained two of the five members of the Sacred 28 with Metamorphmagism in their bloodline. The Potters, on the other hand, were most known for their rare but incredible predisposition for Magical Perception, despite it only arising once every 3 to 5 generations- and though previously all these gifts were either extinct or going through small branches within each family, the pair knew that was no longer the case.

“Alright, where are we putting this one?!” Harry shouted from the other room.

“In the toilet!” Teddy shouted happily.

“Along the edge of kitchen table chair, please!” Draco finally answered.

“Where this thing go, Dray?” 

“Into the ekel-electrike- pocket…?”

Harry burst from the kitchen and quickly pulled the socketplugs from Teddy’s hands. “You will absolutely not be putting your little fingers anywhere near an electrical socket, Teddy.” 

“But Unc’arry!”

For the past few days, the Potters had been in absolute panic mode baby-proofing Grimmauld Place for a child likely to come out as a Metamorphmagus. 

The Black Family was notorious for inbreeding, nearly as bad as the Zabinis, as both families remained two of the five members of the Sacred 28 with Metamorphmagism in their bloodline. The Potters, on the other hand, were most known for their rare but incredible predisposition for Magical Perception, despite it only arising once every 3 to 5 generations- and though previously all these gifts were either extinct or going through small branches within each family, the pair knew that was no longer the case.

* * *

Harry grimly scanned each cage on the shelf and read each label with care. “ _ Saw-Scaled Viper.. _ ? King Cobra.  _ Inland Taipan _ ?” 

Draco waddled toward him from around the corner. “I’ve just managed to pick up some Fluxweed from the apothecary, but I must say that Severus’s- What in the Merlin are you looking at?!”

Harry jolted from his intense concentration to take in the sight of his husband standing incredulous at the opening of the Pet Shop aisle. His face spoke of mild alarm, mouth pulled taught with suspicion as he scanned the surrounding cages.

“Harry, you can’t be serious.” One snake slithered up to the glass. It put up a bright green glistening head and stared, tasting the air. Draco tried not to coo, instead straightening his spine. “Harry we are  _ not _ buying a pet snake. There has been no history of Parselmouth in either of our families, as only _ one _ family  _ had _ such an ability and they are all  _ dead _ . Let’s go. Now.”

“But come on, Dray. Don’t you love snakes?” Harry took a few steps toward his husband and crowded him into one of the baby-snake displays. “It’ll be great, Teddy will love it! He’s been begging for a pet… and he did say he didn’t want a normal one.” Harry kissed Draco’s cheek. “Doesn’t have to be for the baby.” 

Draco lip quivered and he bit it to make it stop. He couldn’t actually be entertaining this?

Harry pushed back a lock of hair that had fallen into Draco’s face. “Please?”

“Fine.”

Teddy did in fact love the snake. Draco would rather be held at wandpoint than admit his love for the creature as well. 

* * *

The kitchen floor felt like smooth blocks of ice against the soles of his feet, already overheated and pained. Draco clutched the thick comforter on his shoulders tighter around himself and reached up for the tea bags in the cupboard. Struggling for a few moments, he sincerely regretted not putting this somewhere better.

Along with Teddy, Harry was at Hogwarts for the day going through a routine check up on the quality of the Defense Against The Dark Arts substitute and the academic state of his students. McGonagall initially refused the necessity of such a thing, volunteering to do it herself, but Harry refused with a simple “You can’t do everything yourself, Professor.” Such was the consequences of leaving with paternity in the middle of the year, yet planning to return quite a while before it ended. 

Draco on the other hand hadn’t been able to see any of his students since he was midway through the 2nd Trimester- not that they were likely complaining, he often laughed to himself. Harry repeatedly told him that he was wrong, that many students voiced how much they missed their beloved Potions professor. 

“And which ones said  _ that _ ?” Draco drawled.

“Matilda Creevey, why?”

Draco snorted.

When the kettle began whistling, Draco saw a few sparkling dots dance across his eyelids, making him flinch and lose a bit of balance. “What..?”

A wet sensation cascaded down his thigh and gradually soggied the comforter. A puddle of water sat at his feet, warming the floor.

Draco pet his stomach stupidly and sighed. “You’re early. How rude.”

*********

“Mr. Potter?” muttered a squeaky, panicked voice.

Harry’s head jerked up from writing the report in front of him to see a house elf, “Yes? What is it? What’s wrong.”

The house elf jumped nearly 2 feet into the air when he was met with Harry’s intense look. “There just came a Patronus message for the Headmaster.. Lord Malfoy’s water broke!”

Harry back went rigid as he quickly vanished everything off his desk. “Teddy should be with McGonagall right now?”

“Yes, Mr. Potter.”

Harry swung his robe over his shoulders and pocketed his wand. “Please make sure to tell her to send him to either Molly or Andromeda, if she can’t watch him.”

With that, he sprinted to his personal work Floo-Connected fireplace and vanished.

* * *

“Sorry, sorry, sorry, I am so sorry I wasn’t here-” 

Draco wearily pat Harry on the cheek, “Oh do calm down Harry. You  _ were _ doing your job. I’m glad you’re here now at the very least.” 

The two were in Draco’s hospital room at St. Mungo’s, Healers were swirling about them, measuring time between contractions and prepping for the delivery all while Harry clutched Draco’s hand and kissed his face over and over again, ignoring Draco’s complaints about sweat.

Running his fingers along the bed’s coarse sheets, the tang of muggle antiseptic and the heated mint scent of healing magic bombarded Draco’s senses.

Suddenly, his grip turned deadly in the other’s hands as another contraction hit and made Draco see stars. “Time?” called a Healer. “Five minutes!” another shouted back. There was the constant clattering of metal equipment in silver pans and hurried instructions substituted as conversation between the four Healers in the room, far too chaotic for Draco’s mental state.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a short, squat nurse was carefully pushing aside another Healer to stand in front of the waiting couple.“Mr. Potter, your husband is nearing towards his delivery time but being that this is a Magical Conception birth, we ask that you stay in the delivery room! To not do so jeopardizes not only your husband’s, but the baby’s core as well.” With that, the nurse pulled a wand from deep in her robes and placed a nonverbal sealing spell on the door. 

* * *

Draco blinked his eyes open to the deafening sound of squalling, empty hands, and a warmth laying against his right side. Unable to turn his head yet, the room appeared empty, but as each one of his senses turned back on, the yellow flares of candlelight overhead seemed near blinding for the first few moments. 

Gathering the strength to look around, he pushed aside an annoying strand of hair that had escaped his braid and laid his eyes upon a sleeping Harry Potter with a chubby, red-skinned, mottled, black haired baby in his arms kicking up a fuss yet refusing to let go of the warm body holding it.

Hardly able to comprehend the sight before him, Draco’s breath hitched as an emotion without words welled up in his chest. Harry was slowly rousing himself awake, but Draco could barely keep his eyes off the child in his arms, _ their child _ . A mad sense of relief flooded his system. The baby was fine, alive, healthy enough to scream like that. With every passing moment, new thoughts were crowding his head:

_ What color are their eyes? _

_ I love them, I love them so much. _

_ I can’t believe  _ we _ made that. _

Draco shifted his eyes to look at Harry and could barely see due to stray welling tears. 

Harry straightened in his chair, unconsciously holding the baby closer, and rubbed his eyes with one hand. “Dray?” he croaked.

“Harry come here, I want both of you closer.” Draco’s voice was wrecked, feeling like hot sandpaper on his throat.

“I-I.. Draco she’s beautiful…” Harry carefully got up and placed the baby in his husband’s arms. “She’s absolutely beautiful.” The infant clasped both hands onto Draco’s rumpled hospital gown and gradually grew quiet. “I love you so,  _ so _ much.” he whispered to the air. Harry brought a hand to Draco’s cheek and kissed him soundly, supporting the baby’s head with the other.

Seperating, Draco asked the first coherent question he’d had since waking up. “Do they know if she-?”

Harry carefully placed a kiss on the baby’s forehead. “They suspect Magical Perception, but that’s all we know so far.”

Eventually the two called in a Healer to allow the bustling family they knew was sitting in the waiting room inside.

Destroying the pleasant silence, the Healer returned with an exasperated look on his face and nearly fifteen clamoring people to their hospital room uselessly shushing themselves and quickly taking a spot around Draco’s bed. 

“Baby!” Teddy exclaimed. Teddy, much to his grandmother’s chagrin, ungracefully pulled himself onto the hospital bed at Draco’s other side. The baby was startled by the noise, twitched in Draco’s arms, and wailed. Teddy looked like he was preparing to as well. Narcissa Malfoy swooped in and held her nephew to her chest. “It’s quite alright, Teddy.. But you can’t scare the baby like that, love. She’ll cry.”

Molly Weasley came from behind a gangle of red-headed adults and children to take a look at the newborn. A loving smile immediately took her face. “What will you name her?” 

“Well…” Draco gazed at the baby in his arms and briefly made eye contact with his mother from across the room, only to look back down at his daughter, unable to tear his eyes away. Harry continued on for him, “We were thinking of something constellation related, to honor the Black side of the family.” The  _ for Sirius and Narcissa _ went unsaid and, unbeknownst to those without the specifics, for the child’s apparent magical signature. “We decided on Cassiopeia.” Draco finished. “Not so much so for the myth but… it's a beautiful name. Cassiopeia Luna Potter”

Narcissa looked pleased and came to stand next to Molly. “Hair is positively black, but unyieldingly straight thankfully. She’ll have an easy time of dealing with it, unlike her father.” A few people in the room laughed in agreement, and Draco couldn’t love each and everyone of them more.


	4. Cassiopeia Cannot See That, Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Within the ticking tock of the clock’s time
> 
> There lays an error against the Grandfather’s cry.
> 
> While the longer stick leads the charge,
> 
> The shorter babe yet is left behind.”

Teddy put some cushions aside and picked up the baby by its armpits to place her on the couch. Cassiopeia’s head, unsupported by her neck, lolled a bit as she fell over. “Okay, Cassie! Are you ready?”

Cassiopeia remained silent, eyes firmly closed, but shifted toward the voice she heard in front of her. He placed her away from the edge of the couch, lectures from Draco about ‘Baby Safety’ playing on loop,. “We’re gonna’ play peek-a-boo again, so you can’t fall over.” His eyes sparkled. “Unless you get scared!” he jeered happily.

Cassiopeia gurgled. She fell over again and smushed half of her face into a pillow. 

“Fine. Do want you want.” Teddy sighed dramatically, in only the way a 7 year old can, and slapped two hands on his face. 

“Where did I go?! I’m gone! I disa-? Dizap-?” Teddy gave up. “ You can’t see me!” he cried.

No response. He was quite sure he was doing this right. Harry had shown him the trick when he was a baby Teddy quickly pulled his hands away. “Peek-a-boo!” He cried. Cassie’s whole body jerked in shock at the sudden shout. “I’m back! I never left! See!” Cassie did not seem pleased.

Three weeks had passed and Cassiopeia Luna Potter had yet to open her eyes. After the first pregnancy scare that defined the last two months of Draco’s pregnancy, both parents had come to trust both of their intuitions that something might be wrong. She should’ve opened her eyes at least one week ago, and by now her eyes should’ve developed their full color. Needless to say, everyone who came to visit her didn’t comment on it, but was very worried. 

Harry emerged from the next room to see Teddy sitting on the floor with his arms crossed and a pout, chastising Cassie’s lack of participation.

“What’s going on in here, Ted?” he asked.

“Cassie doesn’t want to play, even though I asked her nicely, just like you told me to.” Teddy despaired.

“Well, she is just a baby. Maybe she doesn’t want to play. What were you asking her to do?”

“I wanted to play Peek-a-boo! I saw a mummy playing it with a baby on the tellie…” Teddy pouted. Teddy thought Cassie was being stupid, but stupid was ‘not a nice word’ and he wasn’t allowed to call anyone stupid,  _ even if they were _ .

Harry ran a tired hand through his hair and stepped over the mass of black cushions that replaced their living room floor to help Cassie support her neck properly. Teddy watched him silently, spreading out like a starfish and intermittently kicking his feet in the air.

Harry slipped down the sofa’s front to sit beside him.

“Teddy?”

Teddy groaned.

Harry unconsciously ran his hand through his hair with a dark feeling in his chest, preparing himself for the next question. “Have you seen her open her eyes yet?”

“No.”

Teddy’s hair shifted to an unpleasant neon orange when he peeked up and saw the troubled look on his Godfather’s face. “Is she... sick?” he whispered. What can only be described as the purest form of child born terror came over his face. “Is she sick? Is she going to die?!”

Harry’s head snapped up to see Teddy going into hysterics and tearing up. “I don’t want her to die, Uncle Harry! I want Cassie to stay! Please don’t let her die!” The orange-haired boy coralled himself into Harry’s arms and bawled. His face was scrunched up in misery and his hair shot to and from every color he could imagine. From behind him, Harry heard Cassie sniffling when she understood the crying to be coming from Teddy. 

_ ‘Oh Christ.’ _ Harry thought. He hugged Teddy close and rubbed his back in comfort.

“No, absolutely not, Teddy. Cassie is not going to  _ die _ , she’s absolutely fine. She’s not going anywhere, I promise- We all love her far too much for that.”

When Teddy eventually calmed down, nearly 30 minutes had passed and the boy had cried himself to near exhaustion. 

Absently rubbing his back, Harry resolved that it was time for that doctor visit. They shouldn’t wait any longer.

* * *

“Blind.” Pansy told them, stroking Cassiopeia’s black locks. “Cassiopeia is blind.”

Harry’s eyes widened in shock. Draco’s entire body went rigid, and he opened his mouth to speak before Pansy continued, “And until she opens her eyes, I doubt she’ll fully be able to use her Magical Perception. For now, she can only sense when our auras are nearby.”

Draco grabbed his husband’s hand and squeezed. “In the book Hermoine lent us… on the inheritances… there was a missing section on their consequences. We couldn’t find a single medical journal or book that delved into them either.”

Pansy’s eyebrows rose at this. “Yes, but we established that the inheritance you’re implying she has has never shown up in either of your families.”

“But shouldn’t we at least consider it now?”

“Dray, there’s only been three recorded people, confirmed, with that ability in the last 400 years. I promise you, especially with how accurately  _ both _ your family lines are recorded, that we would  _ know if it was possible- _ which it is not.”

Tears were welling in his eyes. “But Pans-!”

“Is someone going to tell me what is going on?” The two Slytherins stopped arguing and had the decency to look a little ashamed at their outburst. Cassie smushed her face into Harry’s chest to seemingly block out the noise, eyes still closed shut and silent. 

Draco returned to his seat, taking the baby from his arms and cradled her close. Upon Draco’s silence, Pansy frowned but didn’t take her eyes off him. “I’m very sorry about Cassie, and I plan to give you every piece of advice and reference that I have to make sure she lives a normal life, but both of you need time to process this instead of Draco insisting that his daughter is blind because she is a  _ Seer. _ ” 

Despite the disappointed look on Pansy’s face, Draco refused to back down. “You don’t understand. You know me Pans- I would never consider it if it wasn’t at least  _ possible _ . My Great Uncle was born blind and there were rumors that he was a Seer- and you know what pureblood families think of Seers.” He gave her a grave look. “He never married, they never even tried to force him to. He only ever had one child, who was born out of wedlock but with another pureblood woman, yet it disappeared. Something like True Sight doesn’t manifest till late childhood, but they probably didn’t want to take the chance of having a  _ Seer _ further down the Malfoy line.” He hugged the baby closer. “What if this is it coming back?”

The Healer pursed her lips and watched the small infant in her best friend’s arms carefully.

“If it turns out Cassiopeia does have True Sight, she’ll have to have given a prophecy within a month of saying her first word.” 

Pansy gave the worried couple crowding their child one last look before standing up and packing up her medical supplies. “I’m truly sorry.” she said, and then she Apparated away.

* * *

“One!”

“Wuhn.”

“Two!”

“Tweh..”

“GO!”

A sparkling, newly polished Greco-Roman bust of Teddy Lupin’s great-grandmother Druella Sophiana Black sped down the uppermost set of Grimmauld Place’s alternating staircases, only to follow the carpet and make the first of its sharp turns into the next set of stairs. 

“Cassie, our Great-Grandma Drew is about to take a fast right! Truly a pretty sight! Look at her go!,” Teddy commentated. His Uncle Harry and Cousin Draco had told him that he always needed to tell Cassie exactly what was happening, so that she can paint mind pictures about it, even if she couldn’t really see it. Teddy was going to make this picture beautiful. 

“Annndd..! Grandma Drew is speeding into the fast lane..! The carpets letting her glide, Cassie!” When the bust was preparing to go down the next staircase, almost out of sight, Teddy picked Cassiopeia up by her armpits and hauled both of them down the next flight of steps to see the bust’s progress. 

The carefully sculpted curves of their Great-Grandma’s various braids and fanciful neck pieces were losing definition with every bang against the railing they took along their ride to the ground floor. 

“We’re about 3 floors down, Cas. Just two more to go! This one’s about to beat great-great-uncle Brutus out of the park!” he laughed. 

With every twist and turn, Teddy had to gather Cassie into his arms and hurry them to the next landing before he lost sight of the race. Cassie occasionally wiggled about in irritation, softly slapping both her hands onto her adopted brother’s face and making the other sneeze. Thus, when all of that movement stopped, Teddy paused and looked down in confusion, placing her on the carpeted floor. Teddy was about to tickle her tummy to seemingly wake her up from her sleep. He wanted to continue watching the race-

Cassiopeia’s eyes shot open for the very first time, burning an iridescent liquid silver and sending light upon everything they turned to as her mouth opened and a horrifically out of place voice resembling that of haggard old woman slid from the baby’s throat.

_ “Within the ticking tock of the clock’s time _

_ There lays an error against the Grandfather’s cry. _

_ While the longer stick leads the charge, _

_ The shorter babe yet is left behind.” _

And when it was done, Cassie’s eyes remained open, sucking back that liquid silver texture into the black of her irises and leaving only the color of milk.

Teddy’s previously black hair graduated slowly into a stark white. 

Cassie rolled over on the carpet and blinked at him.

Teddy screamed. 

* * *

It turns out their Grandfather clock was just broken.

Harry kissed his daughter on the forehead and placed both of her hands on his face so she could feel it was him. “Thank you Cassie, you did a great job. I’ve been telling your father to replace that stupid 300 year old clock for ages- boggarts are constantly trying to live in it.”

“Daddy.” Cassie gasped fervently.

**Author's Note:**

> This is MY realm. I can decide what I want to ignore, and what I don't want to ignore, roWLING. Get off my dick.


End file.
